South Australian Senator
Nick Xenophon
says he speculates the decision by the Malaysian government to deport him came from “the top".

Upon returning to Australia on Sunday morning, Senator Xenophon addressed the media at Melbourne airport. He said one lawyer who was able to gain access to see him while he was being held at Kuala Lumpur airport said it was believed the directions for his deportation came from the Prime Minister’s office.

“But that’s just speculation," Senator Xenophon said.

Mr Xenophon was due to visit the country this week with Australian MPs on an unofficial parliamentary visit.

However, he arrived on Saturday, one day before the others, and was refused entry on the grounds he was a security risk.

During his trip, Mr Xenophon was to meet with the country’s opposition leader,
Anwar Ibrahim
.

The senator has been critical of the country’s handling of a democratic electoral process in the past.

Senator Xenophon said the decision to refuse his entry showed the Malaysian government had something to hide. He said: “Why would they deport me?

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“Why would they put off other members of the Australian government from coming over at the invitation of the leading civil society group in Malaysia?"

He said Australia’s high commissioner in Malaysia,
Miles Kupa
, met a representative from the Malaysian secretary of home affairs office on Saturday and he was appreciative of his help.

“I wonder if the Australian government has been circumspect behind the scenes because of the people-swap deal," Senator Xenophon said.

“I guess I may well be the first practical example of the Australia Malaysia people-swap deal. This shouldn’t affect the bilateral relationship [between Malaysia and Australia]. But I think if the Malaysian government thought they were doing the right thing, it has spectacularly backfired on them."

Senator Xenophon said he believed no other Australian MP had been deported from a country before.

“I guess there’s always a first," he said.

He joked his family were not too surprised when he told them the news, claiming they were used to him getting in trouble.

Senator Xenophon said Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Affairs Minister
Bob Carr
should do more to expose any corrupt behaviour occurring within Malaysia’s electoral system.

On Sunday, Ms Gillard said she was “surprised and disappointed" to see the treatment of Senator Xenophon by the Malaysian government.

She said she and Mr Carr had made sure “strenuous representation" happened at the time of Senator Xenophon’s detention and the pair tried to have the Malaysian government allow his entry, but “clearly failed".

“We will continue to pursue this issue with the Malaysian government," Ms Gillard said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr said he was disappointed Senator Xenophon was refused entry but said he disagreed with comments the senator made last week to a senate estimates committee in regard to Malaysia’s electoral process.

Mr Carr said he did not think Australia Malaysian relations would be “eroded" as a result of this event.

He said he spoke to Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Anifah Aman on Saturday and said they did not want foreign interference in their election process.

“There is no harm to be done to have an Australian senator there to observe the election process," Mr Carr said.

“There is a robustness about their electoral process. Senator Xenophon is entitled to inspect it and make points. Australia does not have a role to go in uninvited to observe elections. We don’t do that, we don’t take that upon ourselves."

Mr Carr refused to criticise the Malaysian electoral process. He said he thought it would be OK for an Australian senator to “look at it".

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd said Mr Xenophon’s detention was unacceptable and the federal government’s response should be “robust".

The former prime minister says he may disagree with the independent senator “on a whole bunch of things", but the South Australian deserved to have his rights and dignity protected overseas.

“Detaining any member of an Australian parliament, in the way in which Senator Xenophon appears to have been detained, is just unacceptable," he told Sky News on Sunday.

“We are robust about our democracy and therefore we should be robust in our response to our friends in Kuala Lumpur."

No Malaysian officials have explained why Senator Xenophon was detained.

Ibrahim Yaacob, chief of staff to opposition leader Ibrahim, said the deportation was a black mark for Malaysia.

“Where is the fair play, where is the democracy? It’s not as if the senator is a terrorist," he told the Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur.